Woman of Metal
by EvelynCarver
Summary: She would always be there for Ianto, whether she was flesh or not. The changes made to her only made her more special in his eyes. Torchwood prompt community week 3 "celestial". Lisa Hallet / Ianto Jones


**Title: **Woman of Metal  
**Rating: **PG  
**Characters/Pairings:** Ianto/Lisa  
**Warnings: **Spoilers for S01E04  
**Summary: **She would always be there for Ianto, whether she was flesh or not. The changes made to her only made her more special in his eyes.  
**Note: ** Torchwood prompt community week 3 "celestial"

Ianto carried a cardboard file box down into the archives. It looked exactly like the other dozens of boxes that he carried in and out of the archives all day long, although he doubted that Jack would notice if he managed to surprise him today. Ianto struggled to keep the box perfectly level as he navigated the various staircases and the difficulties of doors and passcodes one handed.

The archives were as still and quiet as ever but he felt different, more alive and slightly dangerous, the way he'd felt occasionally at Torchwood One when there was a new alien artefact that no one was quite sure of its properties and he was on the team chosen to investigate it. He missed Torchwood One, his friends, his cubicle and the quiet neatness that everything had been accomplished with there.

As he undid the various locks on the final door impeding his journey he recalled what he missed the most about Torchwood One, then the door was open in front of him and he didn't miss her so much. Ianto walked into the room, set down his cardboard archive box and did the locks on the door back up. He opened his laptop and rerouted the CCTV of the hub through to his computer so that he could watch for Jack returning or any of the other members of the team forgetting things and returning for them. It had been known to happen.

He didn't get close to her, not yet. She was still sleeping and he didn't have anything better to offer her when she woke up. He pulled a stool to her side and sat down, eyes staring at her face, taking in every detail of her lovely skin and the new lines that had appeared around her eyes as she struggled to deal with the pain even in her sleep.

Medical knowledge was not his speciality, but Ianto had done research and he had a very general idea of the output that the machines ever giving him. None of it was very good, every morning he worried that by the time he managed to get to her she would have passed or given up from the pain and been reduced to nothing. Now she was beautiful and strong and he'd never seen her fight for anything as hard as she was fighting for her life.

He took her hand in his, carefully avoiding the monitors and gently turning it so as not to dislodge the tubes running into the crook of her elbow. Her skin was soft and smooth, just like he remembered it being when he rolled over in bed in the morning to find her there, or at night when he ran his hands down her body and appreciated every inch of her fine skin.

There was less fine skin to appreciate now. Her body was covered and he had no way of uncovering it. She couldn't feel her skin sometimes and he worried that he had made a mistake. So many things could go wrong, he could give her the wrong dosage at the wrong time or something could interact differently with her new bodily additions, or it might have been as simple as an allergy.

Ianto felt tears teeming in his eyes and closed them, imagining what she used to look like. Her body out before him, every inch of her was for him and every inch of him was for her. He ran a finger over her knuckles enjoying the contact and smiling at the memories of happier times.

But it all went away when he opened his eyes. She was still beautiful, every inch of her was perfect and he loved her even more for being strong and beautiful and amazing no matter what they had to go through.

She had been changed by the Cybermen, by the people from beyond this world and these stars, all gleaming metal and hard edges were there used to be soft skin and gentle curves. He cautiously reached out a hand and touched the metal covering her arm and then grew bolder and ran a finger delicately over the metal on her hip. She was still beautiful, just a little different. If half the stories Jack told were true, than Ianto couldn't fault himself for knowing that there was just as much beauty in her now as the metal woman as there had been before when she'd been flesh.


End file.
